This invention relates to a gripper mechanism with opposed parallel fingers which open and close while remaining parallel to one another.
Gripper mechanisms are well known in the art. Such mechanisms normally comprise a pair of fingers which are driven by a set of gears or hydraulic actuators to open and close relative to one another. Gear mechanisms are expensive to manufacture and thus add undesirable costs to the gripper mechanism. Hydraulic mechanisms require a source of driving fluid and are prone to leakage. Thus, such hydraulic mechanisms result in a gripper which is complicated and prone to malfunction.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a gripper mechanism which avoids the drawbacks of the prior art.